First time at your site: Greetings. I have an OM2 since the 70's with a great old style fitted hard leather case with Removable flip off cover in dark brown. I love this camera but have finally moved up to the real world with a d7000. Lot's to learn but enjoying all of it except I don't feel I can just toss it in one of my camera bags or just grab it and go without protection. Is it possible to get a fitted leather case that works and is not hideous? (See Leica, Pen or LX3 cases) Or are there too many buttons and gadgets to cover these days?
Any advice would be great and thanks again for allowing me onto your site.

You say you have a camera bag already - that should be enough protection, especially if you can set up the dividers to create a snug fit for the D7000.

Alternatively you can spend a lot of money on Camera Armor (google it), although it doesn't seem to be available for the D7000.

In my humble opinion, Nikons are tough enough to carry around without a case. Just develop habits that prevent you from dropping or swinging the camera. For instance, my neck strap has been adjusted so that, when I carry the camera over one shoulder, the lens snuggles in the crook of my arm.

However, it's not leather and it probably won't fit anything larger than a D7000 with an 18-200. Any lens smaller and it'll tumble around.

I honestly think any other camera bag would do better. You'll need to carry other accessories- lens caps, blow bulb, microfiber cloth, and memory cards and this case won't hold anything very well.

I got a D40 with a semisoft case, it was built to hold an 18-135. Very nice looking cloth case, it's just that it's not very practical in use. Not good weather protection and it seriously won't hold anything else other than your camera.

The FM2 that my father has also has the original leather case. That is a handsome piece there. But again- it's so rigid and conforming that it won't be useful in anything else other than holding your camera. However, the FM2 is quite a bit smaller than the D40.

Because there so many controls, outlets and slots on the top, side, back and base, of a modern DSLR, the old leather cases are not impractical but there are plenty of other options including not bothering with a case at all

sevencrossing said:
Because there so many controls, outlets and slots on the top, side, back and base, of a modern DSLR, the old leather cases are not impractical but there are plenty of other options including not bothering with a case at all

Yes I remember having one of those cases on my F301/501's, (I remember the genuine Nikon ones were about £60 back then!) I had thought that I hadn't seen them being sold recently, but it hadn't occurred to me that with all the doors and sockets on modern DSLR's that they were impractical. I seem to remember the only cut out in the base section being a thin slot to view the film window. I think there would be more holes than case now :-)

Most older SLR cameras were built so solid, all you needed was a leather cover. (no padded bag required). They also had a MUCH much longer life expectancy. I have a 1980's FG that works perfectly.

The D7000 is quite rugged, I would not worry so much about a cover. It would most likely get in the way more than anything. A simple holster case works fine. Or a padded wrap like Tenba or Domke sells.

it just does not make sense, you loose the display and most of the controls.

it will most likely be operating the buttons by itself.

the camera will become a big point and shoot that allows you it change its lenses, or you will need to remove the camera from the case every time you want to use it ????????? just stick it in a camera bag.

I think, and I may be wrong, that the person who is buying a D7000 to put in a fitted case, leather or otherwise, is buying the incorrect unit, as it seems that they are not interested in the capabilities of the camera.

film cameras, right up to the F3 [i think] had no controls on the back of the unit, so you could put them in one of those eveready cases, but a DSLR, heaven forbid, get a camera bag for it.

there are so many choices, I know one guy who has four cases, to be used for different occasions, depending on what he is doing, where he is going and what equipment he wants to carry.

this reminds me of the guy who complained he had oil on his sensor, he had bought a D7000 and installed a 28-300 [why] never removed it so it was impossible to have dust in it, well, maybe a fitted case, right over the lens would have helped him.

Nikon P7100, Fuji X10, or maybe a micro with interchangeable lenses might be better suited, or go the whoe hog and get a Lecia.

I can confirm DSLRs are pretty rugged. If I'm taking a camera along with me "just-in-case", I usually abandon the proper camera bag and just use a heavy canvas or leather shoulder bag (messenger-style bag). My cameras have never come to any harm.

N.B.1 - Common sense is still needed when handling the bag!

N.B.2 - I do use a GGS glass protector over the camera's (very fragile) LCD screen,

Well thanks so much to all of you for having me come to my senses. I can see the fitted case idea will not fly. The large leather holster bags do look too much like a real holster and gun. I shall keep the new camera in a Lowepro bag with a 35 mm Nikon lens and two Zoom lenses. Though memories of the old OM2 linger (could it be fitted to digital? Ha Ha!), the advantages to digital photo are huge both for my work but especially for pleasue. I have been using a Panasonic lx2 with good success but no viewfinder and not the same power, speed and versatility as the Nikon SLR. That some old Nikon lenses now will work with the digital is great too. Perhaps a good in between camera would someday be the micro 2/3 (?) Panasonic GF1.. or Olympus Pens.
Again thanks for all of your great advice, now trying to go through all the pages in the manual with camera at my side. See you all again soon, Peter

Peter Dowell said:
First time at your site: Greetings. I have an OM2 since the 70's with a great old style fitted hard leather case with Removable flip off cover in dark brown. I love this camera but have finally moved up to the real world with a d7000. Lot's to learn but enjoying all of it except I don't feel I can just toss it in one of my camera bags or just grab it and go without protection. Is it possible to get a fitted leather case that works and is not hideous? (See Leica, Pen or LX3 cases) Or are there too many buttons and gadgets to cover these days?
Any advice would be great and thanks again for allowing me onto your site.

Recent hard case 'leather' products are complete crap. Finding one like you found in the 70's that had either good leather or good fake leather are now many hundreds of dollars at a minimum. Most 'leather' stuff today has nasty seems and is 100% fake.

but, as mentioned, for protection, you should be fine without one. My D200 has been tossed around and is similarly built to the D7000. It is fine.

Most of those old cases were designed for the body fitted with a 50mm normal optic on it. Modern DSLRs typically come with a zoom that is much longer.

The trend today is (mostly) small square-ish bags where the DSLR with said zoom aims down into the bag. I bought a smallish Lowepro Adventura 170 for $24 that holds the body and lens as such and still has room for two or three more optics, depending on their size. Although the bag is fairly small, I can carry my D5100 with a 55-200 VR on it and still have room for my 18-55 VR and either my 300 f4.5 AI or two smaller optics like my 85mm f2 AI and 50mm f1.4 AI. A pretty nice bag for $24.

Probably the closest thing, at least in the Lowepro line, to what you may be in the market for is either the Adventura 120 or 140 model bags.

I am old enough to remember backpacking in Alaska with my Nikkormat FTn in an eveready case strapped to my chest with homemade elastic cord to keep it from moving around but still allowing quick access. I had a different camera, a different camera case, used Kodachrome 50 and had a different body back then! What worked with those cameras just doesn't work with a modern DLSR because you need access to all the buttons on the back these days and you usually have much larger lenses mounted on the camera.

If a normal photo bag bangs around too much (for example it would throw me off balance climbing mountains or crossing streams on rocks) try using some sort of fanny pack worn backwards so the clip is at your back and the pouch is in front.